Social Scientists
Try to Breakthe Impasse

Dealing with the ;public, expertstake differenttacks: A18B; D;;;; L. W;;;;;;Graphic: The ;remarkablegrowth of climateresearch: A162 state ;climatologistsin the politicalcross hairs: A20Whatever ;happened tocolleges’ climatepledge? A21Some Americans seeglobal warming asa distant problem,“for polar bears orsmaller islands in themiddle of the ocean.Not for me, my town,or my community,”says a Yale scientist.K;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; has a folder full of hate mail. It started coming in when Ms. Nor-gaard, an associate professor of sociology andenvironmental studies at the University of Or-egon, spoke in March at a London conferencetitled “Planet Under Pressure 2012.”Rush Limbaugh, the radio commenta-tor, and a global-warming skeptics’ Web sitecalled Climate Depot got hold of a news re-lease describing a presentation about thosenot taking action to ease climate change: “Re-sistance at individual and societal levels mustbe recognized and treated.”The use of the verb “treated,” later cutfrom the release, was all it took for Ms. Nor-gaard, the author of Living in Denial: ClimateChange, Emotions, and Everyday Life (MITPress, 2011), to get the full, unpleasant ver-sion of the skeptic assault: phone calls to theuniversity president and her department chair,and lots of unpleasant e-mail, attacking herappearance and using the four-letter word thatrhymes with “but.”Continued on Page A12

That’s how she feels compelled to
start a conversation about how she,
a white woman with a Ph.D. in medieval history and an adjunct professor, came to rely on food stamps
and Medicaid. Ms. Bruninga-Matteau, a 43-year-old single mother
who teaches two humanities courses at Yavapai College, in Prescott,
Ariz., says the stereotype of the
people receiving such aid does not
re;ect reality. Recipients include
growing numbers of people like
her, the highly educated, whose advanced degrees have not insulated
them from ;nancial hardship.

“I ;nd it horrifying that some-one who stands in front of collegeclasses and teaches is on welfare,”she says.Ms. Bruninga-Matteau grew up

LAURA SEGALL FOR THE CHRONICLE

Melissa Bruninga-Matteau, a medieval-history Ph.D. and adjunct professorwho gets food stamps: “I’ve been able to make enough to live on. Until now.”in an upper-middle class family inMontana that valued hard work andsaw educational achievement as thepathway to a successful career and aprosperous life. She entered gradu-ate school at the University of Cali-fornia at Irvine in 2002, idealisticabout landing a tenure-track job inher ;eld. She never imagined that

What’s in a Name? For Yalein Singapore, a Whole Lot

B; K;;;; F;;;;;;T;;; ;;;;;;;; conversations for a new East-meets-West liberal-arts college wereheld, ;ttingly, at an annual meet-ing of global political and busi-ness leaders in Switzerland.

It was at the World EconomicForum in Davos, in January 2009,that Richard C. Levin, presidentof Yale University, and Tan ChorhChuan, president of the Nation-al University of Singapore, be-gan discussing what has becomea deep-seated collaboration be-tween the two institutions to cre-ate the ;rst liberal-arts college inthe island nation.But three years after that ;rsthandshake, Mr. Levin faces vocalcampus resistance to the project,which is known as Yale-NUS Col-lege. In April, members of Yale’sarts-and-science faculty approveda resolution expressing concernover Singapore’s record on civiland political liberties. Adminis-trators have maintained that fac-ulty don’t get an up-or-down voteon the project because Yale-NUSCollege will neither offer Yalecourses nor award a Yale degree.So the resolution served as a proxyfor their displeasure.

A WEEKLYMAGAZINEOFIDEAS The Chronicleof Higher Education Section B May11,2012INSIDESometimes a Fail Is Actually a Win ;Computer programmers’ training includes learningfrom their mistakes. Humanities students needto be shown the good in failure, too. A60‘You Feel Powerless’ ;Complaints aboutstudent-loan collectionsare on the rise. A3